Friday, January 04, 2008

Oklahoma and Ohio State: A Tale of Two BCS Records

It's pretty clear that, since 2000, the Oklahoma Sooners (Big 12) and the Ohio State Buckeyes (Big 10) have been the class of their respective conferences. They each have a National Championship and multiple BCS Bowl appearances to show for their efforts.

The difference: Oklahoma is 0-4 in their last 4 BCS appearances, while Ohio State is 3-1. So, then, why does Ohio State bear the brunt of such "they don't belong" criticism from many media types while Oklahoma is generally lauded?

It's pretty puzzling to me how the same coach, Bob Stoops, who won a national championship in his second season, won nine of his first 10 games against top-10 foes and to this day has an absolutely sterling overall record has now lost four straight BCS bowl games, three of which his team was widely expected to win, two of which have been absolute blowouts. It's equally puzzling why Oklahoma has not suffered anywhere near the same backlash that Ohio State -- 3-1 in BCS games under Jim Tressel -- has endured for its sole bad showing a year ago.

NEW ORLEANS --Ohio State offensive lineman Alex Boone said he was watching College Football Live recently when he saw a fan comment scroll across the bottom of the screen that said, "If Ohio State loses this game [to LSU], they should be banned [from the national championship] for five years.

"Gosh," he said to himself. "People really do hate us."

There are no official records to support this contention, but it's entirely possible no team in the history of college football has ever endured as much backlash over the result of one lopsided loss as the Buckeyes have in the 12 months since their 41-14 defeat to Florida in last year's national championship game.

Oklahoma lost 55-19 to USC in 2005 and somehow managed to survive with its reputation in tact. Florida's 62-24 loss to Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl did little to dampen the aura surrounding Steve Spurrier and the Gators during their subsequent title run the next season.

Yet despite winning all three of its previous BCS appearances under Jim Tressel (including the 2002 national championship over Miami), despite winning 30 of their past 32 games, last year's Debacle in the Desert somehow became a public referendum against not only Ohio State but its entire conference.

This year, just like last year, Ohio State (11-1) enters Monday's championship game as the nation's No. 1 team. However, whereas the Buckeyes entered last year's Florida game as prohibitive favorites, they've been deemed the underdog this time despite having a better record than LSU (11-2). Their legitimacy was questioned literally the entire regular season, and there are no shortage of critics who feel they don't belong in the top 10, nevertheless the top two.

UPDATE #2Mandel also has an interesting piece on the future of the BCS. Looks like a playoff is NEVER likely to happen (thank God), but that some other options short of a playoff may be in the works, including a "plus-one" game that would feature a match-up of the top 2 rated teams left standing after the bowl games.

You may recall that my view is that college football should just return to the traditional bowl match-ups and scrap the BCS fraud altogether. However, I would be open to a hybrid system that featured the traditional bowl match-ups followed by a "plus-one" game a week later.

A plus-one is an even worse idea. Take this year as an example: USC and Georgia certainly have a claim on the plus-one, and you could even add West Virginia to the mix. So that doesn't really solve anything.

No system is perfect, but I think a 16 team playoff incorporating the bowls makes the most sense.

You don't have to do a lot of research to get that the Big 11 is the most overrated sports conferences in sports history.

A whopping 2 national titles since 1968, an abysmal bowl record against other conferences, how much more research do you really need? This, despite the lack of a conference playoff game which could jeopardize an undefeated season.

The non-conference games Big 11 teams play has more twinkies and cupcakes than a hostess truck. If Kent State goes undefeated can they go to the Rose Bowl?

Look, I think OSU will kick LSU's ass next week. But I also think USC or UGA would absolutely destroy OSU.

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About Me

I'm a convert to the Catholic Church who was raised Southern Baptist. I became Catholic because of my belief in and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. * I am a graduate of Baylor University and the University of Virginia School of Law. From September 1998 until September 2005, I served as Mayor of the Town of Columbia, Virginia (the smallest incorporated town in Virginia). * My wife and I have four beautiful children: two boys, ages 11 and 9, and two girls, ages 7 and 6. * My 3 primary interests are the Catholic Church, my family, and law/politics. I hope that this blog will foster enlightened discussion about the roles played by the institutions of religion, family, and state in our daily lives. * I have placed this blog under the protection of St. Thomas More, martyr, and patron of lawyers, judges, civil servants, politicians, statesmen, and large families (not to mention troubled marriages).

Pray that, for the glory of God and in the pursuit of His justice, I may be able in argument, accurate in analysis, keen in study, correct in conclusion, loyal to clients, honest with all, courteous to adversaries, trustworthy with confidences, courageous in court. Sit with me at my desk and listen with me to my clients' tales. Read with me in my library and stand always beside me so that today I shall not, to win a point, lose my soul.

Pray that my family may find in me what yours found in you: friendship and courage, cheerfulness and charity, diligence in duties, counsel in adversity, patience in pain -- their good servant, and God's first. AMEN.

Dear Scholar and Martyr, it was not the King of England but you who were the true Defender of the Faith. Like Christ unjustly condemned, neither promises nor threats could make you accept a civil ruler as head of the Christian Church.

Perfect in your honesty and love of truth, grant that lawyers and judges may imitate you and achieve true justice for all people. AMEN.

"Give me the Grace Good Lord, to set the world at naught; to set my mind fast upon Thee and not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly company but utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of the business thereof."